Publications

2007
Working Paper

Choice, Rationality and Welfare Measurement

By: Jerry R. Green and Daniel A. Hojman

We present a method for evaluating the welfare of a decision maker, based on observed choice data. Unlike the standard economic theory of revealed preference, our method can be used whether or not the observed choices are rational. Paralleling the standard theory we... View Details

Keywords: Welfare Economics; Behavioral Economics; Psychology; Decision Making; Economics; Voting

09 Dec 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Friends in High Places

Keywords: by Lauren Cohen & Christopher Malloy

2022
Working Paper

Values as Luxury Goods and Political Polarization

By: Benjamin Enke, Mattias Polborn and Alex A Wu

Motivated by novel survey evidence, this paper develops a theory of political behavior in which values are a luxury good: the relative weight voters place on values rather than material considerations increases in income. The model predicts (i) voters who are... View Details

Keywords: Political Polarization; Government and Politics; Moral Sensibility; Luxury; Values and Beliefs; Voting

10 Oct 2023
Research & Ideas

In Empowering Black Voters, Did a Landmark Law Stir White Angst?

the Voting Rights Act, we see that areas where the effects of the law were stronger displayed more negative racial attitudes.” The 1965 passage of the Voting Rights Act, a federal law that cracked down on... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

Research Summary

Comparative Financial Systems and Corporate Governance

One implication of the inherent logic of a financial system lies in the effects on corporate governance. Differences in financial systems across countries -- for instance, in terms of the role of banks, equity markets, and shareholder voting systems -- result in... View Details

2023
Working Paper

Change We Can’t Believe In: Distrust of Political Converts

By: Julian J. Zlatev, Amos Schurr and Nir Halevy

We propose and test three hypotheses regarding how people respond to political converts— individuals who switch their voting from one political party to another. Across two experiments, using behavioral and attitudinal measures of trust in two different countries, we... View Details

Keywords: Political Elections; Behavior; Attitudes; Trust

2017
Working Paper

Voter Mobilization and Trust in Electoral Institutions: Evidence from Kenya

By: Benjamin Marx, Vincent Pons and Tavneet Suri

Voter mobilization campaigns face trade-offs in young democracies. In a large-scale experiment implemented in 2013 with the Kenyan Electoral Commission (IEBC), text messages intended to mobilize voters boosted participation but also decreased trust in electoral... View Details

Keywords: Political Participation; Electoral Institutions; Field Experiment; Voting; Political Elections; Behavior; Trust; Kenya

02 Jul 2013
First Look

First Look: July 2

Diether, and Christopher Malloy Abstract—We demonstrate that legislation has a simple, yet previously undetected impact on stock prices. Exploiting the voting record of legislators whose constituents are the affected industries, we show... View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

25 Jul 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas: July 25, 2017

cast may deviate dramatically from pure QV predictions because of the complex and refined nature of equilibrium play. Most plausibly, voting behavior and outcomes would be determined predominately by social... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

August 2021
Article

Voter Mobilization and Trust in Electoral Institutions: Evidence from Kenya

By: Benjamin Marx, Vincent Pons and Tavneet Suri

Voter mobilization campaigns face trade-offs in young democracies. In a large-scale experiment implemented in 2013 with the Kenyan Electoral Commission (IEBC), text messages intended to mobilize voters boosted participation but also decreased trust in electoral... View Details

Keywords: Political Participation; Electoral Institutions; Field Experiment; Voting; Political Elections; Behavior; Trust

18 Sep 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, September 18, 2018

growth, voting rules, and media consumption, vs. individual factors, such as race and education. We use individual-level panel data covering the vast majority of the U.S. voting-age population from 2008 to 2014 and track changes in... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

2023
Working Paper

The Benefits of Revealing Race: Evidence from Minority-owned Local Businesses

By: Abhay Aneja, Michael Luca and Oren Reshef

Is there latent demand to support Black-owned businesses? To explore, we analyze a new feature that made it easier to identify Black-owned restaurants on a large online platform. We find that labeling restaurants as “Black-owned” increased customer engagement and... View Details

Keywords: Black-owned Businesses; Race; Prejudice and Bias; Ownership; Knowledge Dissemination; Digital Platforms; Consumer Behavior; Food and Beverage Industry

SSRN

19 Jul 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Charitable Giving When Altruism and Similarity are Linked

Keywords: by Julio J. Rotemberg

30 Apr 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, April 30, 2019

of home buyers, investors, and regulators. Using the latest research in psychology and behavioral economics, they present a new theory of belief formation that explains why the financial crisis came as such a shock to so many people—and... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

Article

Beyond Good Intentions: Prompting People to Make Plans Improves Follow-through on Important Tasks

By: Todd Rogers, Katherine L Milkman, Leslie K. John and Michael I. Norton

Many intend to stay fit but fail to exercise or eat healthfully; students intend to earn good grades but study too little; citizens intend to vote but fail to turnout. How can policymakers help people follow through on intentions like these? Plan-making, a tool that... View Details

Keywords: Behavior; Success; Planning

October 2016
Case

Triangulate: Stay, Pivot or Exit?

By: Thomas Eisenmann, Shikhar Ghosh and Christopher Payton

Sunil Nagaraj, Triangulate's founder had spent a few years trying to launch a dating application that matched users based on their behavior on social media. Based on input from advisors, the company changed its focus from a B2B site to a B2C dating site with a unique... View Details

Keywords: Early Stage; Pivot; Two Sided Markets; Business Model; Business Exit or Shutdown; Product Launch; Venture Capital; Failure; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Information Technology; Social and Collaborative Networks; United States; North America

Educators

Purchase

09 Jul 2013
Research & Ideas

Catching Up With Boards--Jay Lorsch

been ever upward. There was some hope that the concept of "say-on-pay," where shareholders vote on the CEO's compensation, might have some impact by making compensation committees more cautious, but we clearly still have a long... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner

14 Mar 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research, March 14

the chances of meaningful behavior change. The results were clear: Merely liking a brand neither increases purchasing nor spurs friends to purchase more. Supporting likes with branded content, however, can prompt meaningful View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

August 2017
Article

Voter Registration Costs and Disenfranchisement: Experimental Evidence from France

By: Céline Braconnier, Jean-Yves Dormagen and Vincent Pons

A large-scale randomized experiment conducted during the 2012 French presidential and parliamentary elections shows that voter registration requirements have significant effects on turnout, resulting in unequal participation. We assigned 20,500 apartments to one... View Details

Keywords: Elections; Politics; Voting; Political Elections; Behavior; France